Lint in my Pockets

A couple of days ago, I was ready to yell at Dylan for something...I can't remember what...when he said to me: "Remember the lint!  Lint is coming!"

Right away, I heard Dan and Grant laughing in the background.  I still didn't get it.  Then, Dan said to Dylan:  "LENT!"

That's when I lost it, and bursted out laughing as well...totally forgetting what I was mad about.  Dylan certainly has a way with words.

The thing is that the Lint/Lent incident completely accomplished its purpose.  Up until that moment I had not thought about Lent at all.  That moment, however, certainly convicted me and helped me refocus.  It helped me remember not only that Lent is coming, but that there is much lint I need to take care of around here, especially in my pockets. 

I always dread digging in the boys' pockets...yuk...nobody knows what's in there...but inevitably, there is always a mass of stringy, creepy lint.  I dread that moment when I know that what I'm looking for is in either Grant's or Dylan's coat pockets...and they are not around to get it themselves...so it's my hand the one that has to venture inside the jacket that was left behind on a chair or the floor by a boy whose concerns do not include taking care of emptying their coat pockets.  I have nightmares about my fingers touching some fuzz-covered-half-eaten-long-forgotten lollipop stock to the piece of paper I need...

Anyway...but, what about my own pockets!?  They are full of junk too!  And so is my purse, and my kitchen, and my desk, and my office, and my closet!  I carry around so much unnecessary stuff I don't even know how I can move!?  It's no wonder I have constant back ache!

It is time to quit complaining about how the boys don't take care of their mess and start taking care of my own first.  Like the plank, Jesus talks about, remember?

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? you hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.  

Matthew 7: 3-5

I am so given to be the one noticing the specks on my brother's eye...literally...that I forget I'm carrying a whole plank in mine that doesn't even let me see clearly.  I don't really know how in the world I can see anything beyond my nose, to tell you the truth...that's why Jesus has such convicting words for those whom like me...are just plain hypocrites...

Praise the Lord for His Word and for Lent, a period of time that could be used for reflection and removal.  Reflection on the way we live our lives so we can perform the effective removal of what needs to go.

I want to start by getting rid of the lint and the junk in my pockets...my own pockets.  Perhaps my actions could be a good example for my boys so they can finally begin to clear out their mess as well so there will be no more "lint coming," only Lent.